Quote:
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Originally Posted by Raul
Let's not just make declarations on this forum that one should never use #25 chain!
You can be extra safe or you can be competative - its your choice.
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Rar!
I love that firey "extra safe or competitive" statement. Haha.
First, I agree it's bad to declare to NEVER use #25 chain, it has a lot of good applications. (Fortunately, I don't really Raul was quoting me, since I merely adviced to not use it on the last leg of a drive train.)
Second, I'm really glad that Raul did "bite" and say something. You're on a team that's used #25 with great success for a while now.
Something to consider, though I may be incorrect, Wildstang has typically been using #25 on crab drive style systems, which has typically used short chain lengths interacting with only one wheel per length of chain.
In addition, 111 has been designing (very awesome) strategically fast and defensive robots, not the "fierce, head-on, pushing on the carpet with 2.5 coefficent of friction for 2 minutes" sort. 111 has designs that I would to consider to carry
atypically smaller loads on chain. It is a much different situation than a tank drive style system which may have one continous length of chain for two wheels per side at 6 feet per loop. As has been said in similar threads, proper tensioning and load calculations are critical to use #25 chain, as well at continuous "stretch management".
Here's some reworded suggestions:- If you're coming on these forums because you're unsure about whether to use #25 or #35 chain, and unsure about doing calculations to determine the loads for your applications, I sincerely suggest you you don't give yourself unneccessary headache- it's a few pounds to sleep better at night, go #35.
- If you've been around for a few years and are thinking of going down to #25 to save weight, use short lengths and do careful calculations on load.
- If you've had #25 fail on you, work on improving your load handingly methods, or just realize that #35 can be your friend.
- If you've been around for several years, you're probably not looking for advice, so contribute some like Raul did.
More cents...
Matt